‘Twilight’s’ Sheen sports different look

Anytime I see an actor sporting a different look, it’s usually a safe assumption that the change in appearance is for a new role.

Some actors will lose or gain pounds — such as Christian Bale’s weight crash for “The Machinist” — but the majority of the time, it’s a change in hair style. Natalie Portman lost all her hair for “V for Vendetta” while Tom Hanks showed up for months sporting the scraggly beard he needed for “Cast Away.” It wasn’t a good look for him, but it made sense for the movie.

When Michael Sheen arrives to talk about reprising his role of the villainous Aro in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2,” he’s sporting long hair, a stubble of a beard and a handlebar mustache that he’s curled up on each end with some wax. It’s quite a different look from when I’ve talked to him before about previous “Twilight” movies or even “Alice in Wonderland.”

A fellow critic suggest that he looks like Baron Munchausen. Sheen’s next role is playing Dr. William Masters, half of the sex research team with Virginia E. Johnson, in the TV offering “Masters of Sex.” This look is certainly not to play Masters.

The reason Sheen’s sporting the facial hair is — well, just because he can.

“I really don’t need an excuse,” Sheen says smiling through the dark growth. “This is the thing about being an actor. If you got a slightly rubbish look, or a slightly off look, everyone assumes that it’s for a character.”

That’s not the case and he’s just happy that no one thinks his rumpled look is just him being lazy.